Gemma Nowak, 2018 Alex Gilmer Flight School Scholarship Recipient
Please see the email that Gemma sent to us, 6 months after receiving the scholarship.
November 21, 2018
Dear Mr. and Mrs. Gilmer,
Thank you so much for the incredible gift that you gave me with the Alex Gilmer Scholarship! I can’t express how beautiful and exhilarating it was to get the chance to learn to fly over this last summer. I was a little anxious the first lesson, but by the end of the summer it was nothing but amazing fun! After I used up the scholarship, I had the opportunity to complete my Navy ROTC summer training with an F/A 18 squadron in Lemoore, CA. It was because of the summer spent learning all about the basics to flying that allowed me to be totally comfortable during my Navy summer training. The summer training (we call them cruises—but they are NOT the Disney kind) helped me realize that I wanted to commit to flying in the military as an officer in the world’s greatest Navy. This October, I was selected to become a Naval Flight Officer. I know that it was because of the scholarship opportunity this summer that helped me to realize this dream of mine. Thank you for everything that you do for aspiring young aviators! You truly changed my life and I know that you have and will continue to change lives of other future military officers! I won’t forget this generosity and I will strive to be worthy of it as I begin my career in the skies!
Thank you with my whole heart!
Gemma
Ps- The first photo is from Rocky Mountain Flight School over the summer. The second is from my summer training, this was taken right after my very first flight in an F/A 18, I hit 7.4 G’s and enjoyed every second of it! The third photo is with another future aviator after our formation flight.
Gemma B. Nowak
Bachelor of Science, Mechanical Engineering – Biomedical Engineering Option
University of Colorado Boulder, May 2019
Navy ROTC, Naval Flight Officer Select, May 2019
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